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Drake (musician)

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Drake

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian actor and recording artist. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks, the basketball star that became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate on Degrassi: The Next Generation. As a rapper, he performs under the mononym Drake, and is often billed as the new version of The Fresh Prince.[1] Drake continued to recognize a close affiliation with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment,[2] before officially signing with the record label in June, 2009.[3] His first studio album, Thank Me Later, is expected to be released on the label in late 2009.

Early life

Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis; he is the nephew of musicians Larry Graham and Teenie Hodges.[4][5] Graham's father is African American (a native of Memphis, Tennessee) and his mother, an educator, is a white Jewish Canadian.[6][7][8][9] His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother in Toronto's wealthy Forest Hill neighbourhood,[10] attending elementary school at Forest Hill Public School, and high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting,[7] but did not graduate.[11] He also spent many summers with his father in Memphis, Tennessee.

Career

Acting career

In 2001, Graham began his acting career, playing the role of Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation. His role on the show ended in 2009, when producers cut the entire Degrassi staff for a new group of actors.[11]

Music career

In February 2006, Drake released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. From the success of his first mixtape, he later began releasing more, capitalizing from the buzz.

In 2007, he released Comeback Season to much critical acclaim and praise. It was from here on where Graham started gaining popularity when he did his first song with Lil Wayne, a remix of the already popular song "Man of the Year" which Wayne didn't rap in but had ad-libs in the end of the song. In 2008, he released Heartbreak Drake, yet again a popular release and gaining more acclaim and buzz for the artist. So Far Gone, which included Drake's mentor Lil Wayne, and members of Young Money, was released in 2009. Also in 2007, Graham became the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first single, "Replacement Girl" was featured as the "Joint of the Day" in April 2007.

While working on his mixtapes and his album, Drake has worked with Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Trey Songz, Robin Thicke, Little Brother, Mary J. Blige, and Jamie Foxx. Drake has also written for Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante and Dr. Dre.

He has achieved this success without even signing to a major record label, according to his management Hip Hop Since 1978.[12]

In June 2009, it was revealed that an unauthorized album entitled The Girls Love Drake and credited to Drake was up for sale on iTunes. A lawsuit is planned against the label.[13]

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart of July 4, 2009, both "Best I Ever Had" and "Every Girl" by Young Money Entertainment (a supergroup that includes Drake) entered the top ten at positions 3 and 10 respectively. Drake is only the second artist to have his first two top ten hits in the same week. The first was fellow Canadian Nelly Furtado who entered the top ten in 2001 with "I'm Like A Bird" the same week as Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On", a remix of which included a credited contribution from Furtado.

On June 29, 2009 it was confirmed Drake signed a record deal with Cash Money/Universal/Motown, which was considered "one of the biggest bidding wars ever".[14] He plans to release his official debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2009, and has confirmed collaborations with the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z, Danny![15] and Lil Wayne.[3]

Personal life

In 2008, Drake spoke about his past relationships on a song called "Deceiving" using each verse to address different women. In Verse 1, he spoke about video-model Nadia Edwards. In Verse 3, he spoke about actress Alisha Phillips.

He then spoke about his past relationship with Keshia Chanté on the Verse 2 of his song "Deceiving", referencing Chanté's mother, Tessa, [16] stating "when I say I'm serious, you claim your only teasing" and "What up Tessa? I love you like my own mama, and your daughters getting grown mama, and me, I'm just here working, waiting, patient for her to be ready for love and leave alone drama"

In May 2009, Drake finally speaks with MuchMusic about his song "Deceiving" and addressed speculation of his past relationship with Chanté, "Would I call Keshia Chante an ex? I'd be proud to say she is an ex. I'm proud to say we had our time, when we were, like 16 years old. She's great. She's one of the first people in the industry that I met, we just connected."[17]

In June 2009, Drake did two remixes to Chante's song "Fallen" where he addresses his love for her, on Version 1 he raps "Keshia, Keshia, do you remember the old us? They said we'd never be together that's what they told us. Immature kids, to entrepreneur kids." then on Version 2, he raps "you just hold it down for your boy until the plaques arrive, that's why I love you."

MuchMusic later asked Chanté on how she felt about what Drake. She kept mum, later saying, "I will love that man unconditionally for the rest of my life. He knows what it is. We have history. I've known him since I was a little girl. We just have a love/hate relationship, so I prefer to love him from afar."

Online rumors swirled stating that Drake was in a relationship with Rihanna. Both parties denied that claim, with Drake stating "we're just good friends."[18]

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
2008 Charlie Bartlett A/V Jones
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Blue Murder Joey Tamarin 1 episode
2001–2009 Degrassi: The Next Generation Jimmy Brooks 8 seasons
2002 Soul Food Fredrick 1 episode
Conviction Teen fish Television movie
2005 Best Friend's Date Dater 1 episode
2008 Degrassi Spring Break Movie Jimmy Brooks Television movie
The Border PFC Gordon Harvey 1 episode
2009 Sophie Ken 1 episode
Being Erica Ken 1 episode

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Peak chart positions Sales and certifications
CAN U.S. U.S. R&B U.S. Rap
2009 Thank Me Later — — — —

Mixtapes

  • 2006: Room for Improvement
  • 2007: Comeback Season
  • 2008: Heartbreak Drake
  • 2009: So Far Gone

Singles

Year Song Chart positions[19] Album
U.S.
Hot 100 		U.S. R&B U.S. Rap Canadian Hot 100[20]
2009 "Best I Ever Had" 3 1 1 34 So Far Gone
"Successful" (featuring Trey Songz) — 39 22 —
"I'm Going In" (featuring Young Jeezy & Lil Wayne) — 108 — — Thank Me Later

Collaboration singles

Year Song Chart positions[21][22] Album
U.S.
Hot 100 		U.S. R&B U.S. Rap
2009 "Every Girl" (with Young Money) 10 2 2 Young Money Fam
Year Song Chart positions Album
U.S.
Hot 100 		U.S. R&B U.S. Rap U.S. Pop 100
2009 "The One" (Mary J. Blige featuring Drake) — 49 — — Technical Difficulty
"Off That" (Jay-Z featuring Drake) — — — — The Blueprint³
"Digital Girl (Remix)" (Jamie Foxx featuring Kanye West, The-Dream & Drake) — — — — Intuition

References

  1. ^ Google Me: Drake Vibe. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
  2. ^ "Drake Discusses Young Money Affiliation in Interview with Complex". WeLiveThis.com. Retrieved February 19 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b "Drake Officially Signs to Young Money / Universal Motown". WeLiveThis.com. Retrieved June 29 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Drake superior". Maclean's. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2009-06-22. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Moore, Tracy. Graduating Degrassi". sceneandheard.ca, 2005.
  6. ^ HipHopCanada.com :: Interview with Drake - July 12th 2006
  7. ^ a b Jordan, Haris mrison (2006-12-20). "Degrassi actor says being different made him stronger". The Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 2006-12-20. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Jones, Jen (12/06). "School's In for Degrassi". JV!be. Jewish Family & Life. ISSN. Retrieved 2006-12-15. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |unused_data= (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  9. ^ Infantry, Ashante (2009-06-21). "Chasing Drake". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-06-21. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ "2 cool 4 school". Joshua Ostroff, The Globe and Mail, March 22, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-24.
  11. ^ a b Garraud, Tracy (2009-02-25). "Drake Discusses Degrassi, High School Years, and So Far Gone with Vibe Magazine". Vibe. Retrieved February 25 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  12. ^ http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=45502
  13. ^ Concepcion, Mariel (2009-06-05). "Exclusive: Fake Drake Album Sold On iTunes, Lawsuit Planned Against Label". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ Drake: Official Biography Hip Hop Since 1978. Retrieved on 2009-06-24.
  16. ^ http://www.andpop.com/tag/keshia-chante/
  17. ^ http://blog.muchmusic.com/drake-talks-young-love-with-keshia-chante/
  18. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iI2dMbr-JM7IzMbTS3d2Xh9DC7Tw
  19. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=345&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Bubbling+Under+R%26amp%3BB%2FHip-Hop+Singles&ci=3109437&cdi=10233419&cid=07%2F04%2F2009
  20. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=Canadian+Hot+100&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Singles
  21. ^ Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Billboard. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
  22. ^ Hot Rap Tracks Billboard. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.

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